Below is an in-depth interview with Robert Barg. Robert was the second owner of the 24th ’67 Z-28 built. It was a red Z-28 with the rally sport (hidden headlight) option and was originally purchased by Maurice “Mo” Carter through his City Chevrolet dealership in Hamilton, Ontario. Mo did some rally and road race activities with the car before selling it to Robert in late ’67 or early ‘68.

Robert BargThe Racing Life of a Privateer (as told by Robert Barg to Jon Mello)

Mo Carter’s red #8 at Mosport, Aug 1967 Photo: Phil Dauphinee

I got started racing in ‘61 with a Crosley powered homemade race car (that I bought) that had a cut-down Devin body on it – looked like a baby Ferrari. It was what they called a Canada Class car (similar to the SCCA H modified cars) and I ran a few races with it. I could never get the Crosley motor to run right (we didn’t know much) so I sold it. I didn’t start again till ‘65 because I got involved in a car business with two other guys and there was no time for racing till then. At first, I shared Rick Stevens’ 998 Mini Cooper for a few races and then built one with another friend. I was, at one time, the D sedan lap record holder in Rick’s almost stock mini at Mid-Ohio – set in Oct. ‘66. I had never been there before and actually passed many-time SCCA National champion Chuck Dietrich on the outside of turn one at Mid-Ohio on the marbles. He was dumbfounded that I would try and pass him there (didn’t know any better). I had qualified near the back but had a great race with him and Bernd Leckow (NSU). I eventually finished a close third in D sedan.

I had a partner with the Mini who did the maintenance and he wanted out so it was sold. I felt I was ready for something more powerful. I had been driving a Corvette-powered ‘54 Healey around the street for three years so I felt confident I could handle something larger like a Camaro. When Mo put the ‘67 up for sale as a roller I jumped on it. I have no idea where the money came from – I must have gotten a loan somewhere.

Mo Carter at Mosport, 9-23-67 Photo by Dale von Trebra

The ‘67 was actually Mo Carter’s first road racing Camaro. Mo drove it in the ‘67 Shell 4000 [FIA-sanctioned Trans-Canadian rally] in early May, then had a local stock car builder make a crude road race car out of it. He did several regional races in ‘67 and also took it down to Watkins Glen. I bought it that winter as a roller for $1800. It had no motor or tranny and drum brakes on the back with stock street Koni shocks. When I bought the car from Mo it was still painted red, which I thought was the original colour from GM but I can’t be sure. I raced it that same colour in ‘68 – it did not need paint.

I ran it in three regional races in ‘68 after I had a friend build a 302 motor for it and installed a fuel cell. If memory serves, I don't believe most cars had fuel cells in ’67 but they became mandated somewhere around April or May of ‘68. I can remember smuggling a 22-gallon cell bladder, foam, and container over the border from Buffalo NY in early ‘68. Brian Robertson, my engine man stuffed the bladder and foam underneath the dash of the 401 Buick-powered ‘58 Pontiac wagon I drove that year as a tow car. It was a cell made by Donn Allen, I believe. We were nervous as could be trying to smuggle it across the border to avoid duty. It was an added race expense that Canadian racers had to put up with, as there was little in the way of racing parts produced in Canada.

Rick Stevens and I decided to test the T/A waters at Watkins Glen in August ‘68. The number we used for the race was 71 – I had been using the # 171 in my club races in Ontario. We did not get a handle on the car prep for the Glen at all. We were way slow in qualifying and the race. The car had some front suspension problems that got progressively worse and we barely finished. In fact I was going so slow at the end that during a yellow I waved Jerry Titus by and he got into trouble with the officials. I had to tell them after the race that I waved him by because the car was ailing. They were ready to take the race win away from him. He was very worried at the time.

Robert Barg at Mosport, 1968 Photo: Robert Barg Collection

At the end of ‘68, my friend Brian wanted his motor back so I bought the engine and then sold the car to Al Richards as a roller. Richards repainted it that nice Camaro “Marina blue” after he bought it from me. The next spring I conned him into going to Sebring and I would supply the motor. That’s how Richards and I got together to go racing till the end of ‘72. I think he knew I wasn’t the quickest driver around (not the slowest either) but the odds were I would bring it home in one piece after each T/A race, and that was important because we had no money. We were probably the lowest budget privateer gang you ever saw. We raced on used tires and I had to borrow a tow vehicle from someone for each race, and sometimes had to borrow a trailer. We depended upon whatever prize money we won – usually $300-$600. I wasn’t allowed to work on the car but became very good at scrounging for used race parts. Al was a HD diesel mechanic and had some drag racing background, but he and his friends who helped with the car knew very little about road race setup. We learned as we went along. I didn’t know anything either – just sort of drove whatever they provided on the grid. At every race, Mark Schwien, Rusty Jowett’s mechanic, would take pity on us and tell us the “hot tip”. He was an ex-Nascar mechanic and had some smarts.

For the 1969 Sebring race, Rick Stevens was recruited as my co-driver. During the race, our team had no clue where we were in class until the hourly reports came in. I ended up driving for eight hours out of the twelve as Rick was not feeling well – too much sunburn from the days before. I did the last night stint and turned my fastest race lap in the dark with about 1 hour to go. Without a working tach, we just sort of shifted by ear – probably under the redline.

Early in the race I ran the car off the road in the esses by getting out on the marbles while moving over for a Porsche prototype. It turns out I bent up the front suspension and the car became hard to steer (no power steering). We had to find front tires every hour. I got some used ones from Firestone, as I remember. We won $1000 and were a happy bunch. It was after the Sebring race the car was updated to better Konis and rear disc brakes. Al acquired a cross ram in ‘69 but I can’t remember if we actually used it – he says yes.

One other interesting stat from that race was it was the last ever Le Mans start. In fact there was a false one, and the drivers had to do it twice. I started the race and made sure I didn’t get involved in any first lap nonsense. There were several drivers competing who were also Trans-Am drivers. That race was probably one of the highlights of my humble racing career.

Robert Barg and Dick Hoffman at Michigan Int'l Speedway in 1969 Photo: Robert Barg Collection

After Sebring, we met Dick Hoffman through the referral of another racer. To my knowledge, Hoffman and his partner Dave Horchler had sold their car to Levester Lewis in early ’69 and this is why Dick became available. We did an SCCA National or Regional race together at MIS and Dick drove the car solo at one of the Canadian Touring car races also that year at Mosport. He would put some money in the pot. Then Al decided to enter the ‘69 T/A at Mid-Ohio with Dick and I as co-drivers. I started the race but shortly after a pit stop where Dick took over driving, the rear axle broke and we were a DNF.

After that Mid-Ohio race, Dick organized a deal with Ford to take Al’s car to Riverside. The deal was Ford wanted to use the car to mount a camera on the roof. The footage was to be used in a film promoting Ford racing exploits for the ’68 –’69 racing seasons. Dick did that race on his own, I wasn’t able to go. The results say he finished 20th, 12th in O-2.

The Camaro (second from left) at Riverside with the camera on the roof Photo: Petersen Publishing

Riverside Trans-Am Photo: Mike Smith

Dick was of great help in sorting out Al’s ‘67 because of his GM engineering background and knowledge of the Penske ‘67 Camaros. Dick was, in my estimation, a very quick driver. He had already done (with Dave Horchler) several T/A’s in ‘67-‘68.

In ’69, Al had worked part-time as a mechanic fixing up used cars for High Performance Sales. They were a big used muscle car/Corvette dealer in Toronto. In ’70, Al repainted the Camaro yellow with those strange black stripes on the rear. Most likely this was because he quit working for High Performance and no longer had any sponsorship from them – whatever it was. Dennis Marks (a Jamaican) and Roy Bean were two buddies of Al’s and helped maintain the race car. Dennis may have been a part owner of the car at that time, I don’t really know for sure. In ‘70 we reserved our T/A number early in the year and I chose 39, which happened to be one of the numbers still available. We kept that number for ‘71 and ‘72 also. Dick Hoffman built a new ’70-bodied car for himself and was no longer involved with our team.

New paint job for 1971-1972 Photo: Robert Barg Collection

We didn’t run a Trans-Am race during the ’70 season until St. Jovite in August, where we finished 19th. At the Glen a couple of weeks later, we only made the grid because four guys blew their motors in the Sunday morning warm-up, but we did finish the race 18th out of 35 starters. Our team made do with an all purpose rear end ratio for every track – 3:73 (not good at Bryar or Lime Rock) and an engine that had to last all season – so we kept the revs down to 6800-7000.

In ‘71 we did six T/A races but dumb things would happen like the throttle linkage falling apart at Mid Ohio during the race, and a flat tire at St. Jovite in the back part of the track (all part of racing of course). Six races that year was a big effort for us. Our best race of the season was the first one at Lime Rock, which took place in the rain. We finished 9th despite taking the front escape road 3 times and won $1000. This was a big deal to us at the time as we literally had no budget to go racing and needed the money to see us to the next race.

Most of the factories were gone in ‘71 and there were none in ‘72. It brought out lots of the A-sedan club racers who wanted in on the action because of the prize money. Unfortunately, most of the track promoters got scared in ‘72 because the factories were gone and all the media bad-mouthed the series. IMSA had also become a force. Many of the T/A guys switched over and some ran both series although the rules were different in ‘72. In ‘73 SCCA adopted most of the IMSA rules in order to compete with them. The original ‘72 schedule of 12 races was cut back to 7. Most of the racers were based in the NE and that also had something to do with car counts. Not everyone would travel to St. Jovite and certainly not to Edmonton.

Michigan International Speedway, 1971 Photo: Robert Barg Collection

In ’72, we only did three races with the shortened schedule. The writing was on the wall about the T/A series and the car was very old and tired by the end. I knew Al was giving up and had the car for sale, so I got together with Rick Stevens to purchase the ex-Carter/Alfie Perez ‘69 Camaro. We managed 3 IMSA races in the ’69 car that year – Mid Ohio, the Glen, and Daytona – were lucky enough to finish in 3rd place in the TO division in all 3 races.

Rick Stevens with the IMSA Camaro he and Robert Barg shared Photo: Robert Barg Collection

Al and I ran three early T/A races in ‘72 with the yellow car – Bryar, Mid-Ohio, and Watkins Glen, with some mediocre results. After that the car was retired. Al sold the car to a stock car friend – end of ‘72 or early ‘73? We sort of lost touch as I became involved with Rick and the ‘69 Mo Carter Camaro. I think Al, after the Glen race, decided it was time to do other things, like start a business. We had had four good years and the car was now old and tired etc. – time to move on. I probably wouldn’t have got involved with the ‘69 except for the fact that Rick was a mechanic and could maintain the car. That ran out of steam also as he was starting a repair business and couldn’t devote the time to the car. We also realized it wasn’t competitive any more with IMSA or T/A and it was put up for sale sometime near the end of ‘73. In the spring of ‘74 I moved out to BC for the first time.

WAR STORIES, ETC.....___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BEING A RACER IS HARD WORK --- Because Al, Dennis, and Roy worked at a day job during the week, they never had the time to do a thorough job of prepping the car for the next race and toward the end of the season it started to show as things would break or wear out. They were very good at getting things done in a hurry like changing a complete rear axle assembly. I can remember going to the local wreckers at Mid-Ohio in maybe ‘71 because one of the front A-arms broke in practice and we didn’t have a spare. So they were very resourceful in that way – never give up. One time, also at Mid-Ohio, we needed a front brake caliper or something to do with the brakes. They actually went out to the spectator parking lot, found a Z-28, jacked up the guy’s car and took off the part they needed – left a note on the owner’s windshield that the part would be returned after the race – imagine the nerve! I can remember going back to the car after the race and the guy was actually grateful that he could help us out – unbelievable!___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RULE BENDING --- I think a factor that is sometimes overlooked is that the factories were bending the rules at every opportunity – acid dipping, moving firewalls, changing engine locations, moving suspension points, etc. John Timanus (SCCA’s Chief Technical Administrator) had a hard time keeping track of what they were doing. They were just as inventive as Smokey Yunick when it came to interpreting and bending rules. Incidentally, Timanus was a prince of a guy. If he saw something he didn’t like on our car (there was nothing to give us any performance advantage) he would just say “have it fixed for next race”. The independents really had no chance and that some of them like Mo Carter, Warren Agor, Warren Tope etc who managed top ten finishes was a testament to their resources and driving skill.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

THOUGHTS ON MO CARTER --- I remember Mo racing the Camaro in ‘67. He had been racing a Yenko Stinger in ‘66 (his first year). He was a former rally driver who went road racing in ‘66. In hindsight, I don’t think he was a better racer than most of us but he was a Chevy dealer with lots of resources at his disposal and I think all the seat time he put in certainly helped. He became a good driver, but was hard on equipment, according to his crew. That ‘67 Camaro I bought was not well built, but his next Camaros were better cars. With his ‘68 and then ’69, his crew obviously learned the tricks of the trade. Mo was a good guy and I got to know him thru the years. He was always very cordial to me and treated me with respect. I didn’t know until after his death he was a decorated Canadian War hero – fought at Normandy, etc. He never mentioned any of it to me. He was also very active in service clubs and charity work in the Hamilton area. He certainly flew the Canadian flag at races all over North America, both T/A and later IMSA. He even went to Le Mans in ‘80 but ran afoul of the French racing authorities. He didn’t like their politics and the rumour was Mo made reference to their lack of fighting skills in the 2nd war.

I actually worked for Mo for 3 months in ‘69 as a sales rep. I can remember all kinds of Chevy muscle in the inventory. One day I road tested a plain looking black 69 Camaro with a 396 that had aluminum heads. It had a 4-speed and I only drove it around the block. It was as fast or quicker than the Corvette Healey I used to own. It had torque you wouldn’t believe. Can’t recall what model that would have been – maybe something specially ordered by Mo or a COPO car? He was a reserved no-nonsense kind of guy – well spoken. I don’t think he suffered fools gladly. I left his employ because the commute was too long for me and something else came up.

SCARY MOMENTS --- They were always the ones in the first few laps. Because I usually qualified well back, the first few laps were busy and I took pains to stay out of trouble but there were some hairy moments. It was only important for us to make the grid as sometimes 45 cars would show up and they only started 33. We played the waiting game during the race – they were over 2 hrs. long in those days. My fastest race lap was usually 2-3 seconds faster than I qualified at. We seldom had new tires for the race and for qualifying just used the ones from the previous race. We only ran enough laps to get on the grid so as not to wear out the car.

One time at Mid-Ohio during the race, Warren Tope passed me and moved me over on the marbles and he and I both sort of did 360’s on the grass in tandem but never hit each other. He was, of course, going way too fast and never made the corner either. He was a wild man but eventually became very fast. He had access to all the good Ford stuff because his dad was a big wheel with Ford. I got off the track a few times in those early years but was never involved in a race accident – just lucky I guess. Later in 1980 I had a big crash at Laguna after a Corvette hit me in the passenger door and sailed me off the track into the tire wall in front of the bridge – wasn’t hurt but the car was a mess (the first Hoffman 70/71 Camaro).___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

GOIN’ SOUTH FOR THE WINTER --- I first went to Daytona in ‘62 to spectate at the Daytona 500 Nascar race (Weatherly, Turner, Fireball, Johnson, etc). I remember getting into the garage area. You can’t do that now. In those years we drove down to Daytona and also Sebring because we were sick of the Ontario winters by then. Sebring used to be a sleepy town in the middle of Florida and I wonder how much it has changed. The last time I went was 1980 when Mo Carter was running his big block tube frame Camaro with Craig Carter as his co driver (no relation). Lots of racing history at Sebring. It is not the same 5.2-mile track that I remember, which used those rough cement runways. I think it’s now a repaved 3.6-mile layout with very little left of the original track.

I attended every Sebring 12-hour from ’61 through ‘69, except for the famous rain race that Jim Hall’s Chaparral won in ‘65. I can’t remember why I didn’t attend that one. I must have worked as a pit marshal for at least 3 or 4 years. I thought that was great. There were two of us assigned to each car during the Sebring 12-hour. We worked 2 hour shifts, then had 2 hours off. The pit marshal’s job at Sebring was to make sure only the allotted amount of crew were over the wall working on the car and to record the time in and time out of the race car stop in the pits. Remember, there was no electronic stuff in those days. Someone would come around from timing and scoring every hour and give each crew an updated scoring list. We received no pay but we got some shirts and a free lunch every day and there was one large party for all of us each year. It was a great way to meet other enthusiasts and of course, to observe all the hysterics in the Ferrari pits – I loved it.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

HOTSHOTS vs THE LITTLE GUYS --- I don’t think the hotshoe racers cared much about us lowlifes at the back of the grid as long as we kept out of their way. I remember looking out the rear view mirror diligently. I remember that we sort of got to know the guys in our group that were about the same speed. Never got to know the factory guys. I think we were somewhat intimidated by them, although if we needed a part I would go up and down the paddock rows to see what I could borrow or get donated. I got quite good at scrounging for parts. Our crew learned slowly about set-up etc. just by asking others and observing. There were probably only about 2 or 3 other Camaro teams that our crew got to know well. Don’t forget, we were all competing against one another and there was money involved.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

MISCELLANEOUS STUFF --- 1971 Michigan result - the original SCCA results showed me as a "Robert Park" - a typo. www.ultimateracinghistory.com has made the correction. I drove that race with a consistent misfire - some ignition problem if I remember, or maybe fuel related - lost about 5 seconds a lap. That was one of the Brock Yates rental ride races.

1970 Watkins Glen - I drove that race on dry tires despite having it rain for almost an hour. That was the race I was lucky to get on the grid because some guys blew their motors in practise. It was either Francois Guertin or Leon Alain who also joined me. One guy had loaded up and gone home or maybe didn't hear the call to get on the grid.

1970 Bryar - Entered, practised and qualified but didn't start because a jr. crew guy overheated the engine driving the car around the paddock - Al was not pleased and I missed the next race at Mid-Ohio before another engine was cobbled together.

1970 St. Jovite - I was almost overcome by cockpit fumes - either exhaust or gas - barely made it to the finish.

1971 Watkins Glen - The front driveshaft yolk exploded going down the front straight - I had mentioned a driveline vibration from the previous race but couldn't say where it exactly came from.

1973 T/A Watkins Glen - I was drving (Rick Stevens was co-driver) when the rains came, the fog rolled in and the race was stopped. Mo was declared the winner. We were still using a 302 engine even though they had dropped the 5-litre limit that year. Some results say we were a DNF - not so. I had just made a stop and we put on rain tires - passed a whole bunch of guys who had been caught without.

Thanks to Al Richards for all those drives - I still have some contact with him from time to time. I paid the entry fees, if I remember - $100 each and sent the entries in too. Al did not want to drive the car - was happy just to be the owner and chief wrench.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TRAILER TOWING --- I remember that for one race at the Glen (can’t remember which year) I enlisted the help of a young friend for his tow vehicle – a ‘68 Ford Ranchero – well, it was useless as a tow vehicle. I was following him down our 4- lane hwy on the way to the border and the trailer started to do a tank-slapper on him – he ended up in the median in a cloud of dust, with thankfully the car still upright on the trailer. After that it was a painful 45 mph all the way to the Glen. It taught me a lesson never to use something as dumb as a Ranchero to tow a race car and trailer.

One other time Al had borrowed a stock car trailer from one of his stock car racer friends and because the thing hadn’t been used for years, all the wheels bearings seized up about 50 miles down the road from Toronto. He had to find another trailer – the whole episode was a horror show and we wasted a day – did not get to the Glen till about noon on Sat.

Loaded down and ready to head to the track. Photo: Robert Barg Collection

Another time, because we were broke, it was decided not to pay the NY Thruway toll on the other side of Buffalo, and instead, take the old Hwy 20 to Bryar. It wound up and down the backcountry – very nice drive if you weren’t in a hurry and thru every little NY state town. In the middle of the night, about 3am, the trailer tongue broke and it dropped on the pavement, just in the middle of a small town. As luck would have it, there was one gas station open, and the attendant saw our problem and actually phoned a local welder guy to come out and fix the trailer! It only cost $20, but that was twice the NY Thruway toll of $10!

I think we barely made it to Bryar (or maybe Lime Rock) in time for Sat. afternoon practice. I remember (crew member) Roy Bean driving the tow truck and he was so tired he was weaving all over the road. I was following behind and was terrified he would dump it upside down. By the time I got to the track after that all-nighter and with no sleep, it was a wonder I could even drive.

So you can see, we had some drama and weren’t even yet at the track! It was all part of the racing experience – in hindsight I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

I don't remember "race wheels and spares". Fully prepped to Group II ? I think some of that suff was saved for his next build - the 68 camaro - later raced, after Mo, by Jerry Daca. I don't think that 68 has surfaced.

Thanks. I'm glad you like it. It was pieced together from numerous emails and made to read like a story rather than an interview but I think it turned out well. Robert is a great guy, a terrific asset to enthusiasts of Trans-Am racing back in the "golden era", and I am really pleased to have his story here on this forum. It gives great insight into what it took to be a dedicated racer back then.

Very interesting ad - who bought this car? What was the date of that ad? Possibly the car that Alfie Ruys de Perez raced in 71? and was later purchased by Rick Stevens and I in 72 - see the photo of the red camaro with Rick standing beside it.

That ad is from April '71. It advertises two '69 Camaros for sale but does not specifically say if either is the Trans-Am car that we normally associate with Mo and Alfie. Certainly, the first one does not appear to be a Trans-Am car but the second one is a "maybe".

Here's a neat photo of Robert's car in the fall of '68 looking pretty much how it was received from Mo Carter. It looks like it is on display in a shopping mall or something. The sticker in the RH headlight area is from the 1968 Watkins Glen Trans-Am race and Glen 500 which were on the same weekend in August '68. As we know, the car started out as a rally sport Z-28 but for some reason a standard grille was installed after the original was damaged.Robert Barg photo

Robert Barg and co-driver Rick Stevens pose with the Camaro prior to leaving Canada to head south to Florida for the 1969 Sebring 12-hour race.Robert Barg Collection

Sebring tech was in a Sebring downtown parking lot, not at the track itself.Robert Barg Collection

On the actual scales where the weight on each wheel is tallied.Robert Barg Collection

Post weigh-in.Robert Barg Collection

The upper end of the pits.Robert Barg Collection

Not sure what's going on here. Almost looks like the tranny is being pulled or reinstalled out in front of the local Church of the Nazarene. At least they weren't doing it on Sunday.Robert Barg Collection

In one of the hangars at the Sebring race track. Maybe Robert can tell us why the engine has been pulled. Notice one of the headers is hanging in the background.Robert Barg Collection

The over-all winner of the Sebring 12-hour. The Ferrari of Chris Amon and Mario Andretti.Robert Barg Collection